Military Terms, Abbreviations, Acronyms 1

Weighed Down 1, 2, 4

Here’s Why: 10 Things About Abe Lincoln 2, 3

This Month in Military History 4

NC Conceal-to-Carry Information 3

the act of meas-uring depth by sound readings, done today by sonar

: a system that automatically detects the heeling angle (canting) of the ship and compensates for the same

the military police of the the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, or Marine Corps while on duty on shore

EDITOR’S NOTE: This month’s terms come from the “Meet the Military” feature article honoring Don Woodard.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Sweden went from a sparsely populat-ed, poor country of little influence to a major European power. Building a strong military was a key compo-nent in Sweden’s escalation in international politics as it would reflect this northern kingdom’s transformation into a fiscal-military state. Swedish historians have called this rise to prominence the stormaktstiden or “age of greatness.” With a powerful central government and a highly efficient military, Sweden became the dominant country in the Baltic Sea region.

In the 17th century, a strong navy reflected the power and strength of a country. The ability to keep shipping lanes open and to protect their commercial shipping interests was vital to the economy of any country with a seaport. The ship building industry was critical dur-ing that period on more than one front. It was not only essential to build seaworthy vessels, but vitally im-portant to stay abreast of technological advances that could give ships an advantage in warfare on the open sea. The tactics used by the navies during that era played a key role in the rise and fall of great nations.

In the mid-to-late 1620’s, Sweden suffered a series of setbacks that depleted their ships and threatened their ability to project naval power. In 1625, ten ships were lost in a storm on the Bay of Riga. In that same year, the Swedes also lost two of their best warships in the Battle of Oliwa with Poland. In 1628, the navy lost two more large ships, including the Admiral’s “flagship” during a storm in the Gulf of Danzig.

At about the same time Sweden suffered these losses, world-wide naval tactics were evolving. To this point in

naval history, the prevailing strategy was to bring a ship close to the enemy and

then board using mainly hand-to-hand combat as the method to subdue your enemy. However, tactics were changing and more countries were starting to place emphasis on sub-duing the enemy with gunnery rather than the boarding tech-nique.

Prior to 1626, the Swedish navy was composed mainly of small to medium-

sized gunships with a single gundeck, normally hosting 12-pounders and smaller

cannons. These ships were cheaper than the larger ships and were well-suited for escort duty and patrol. However, Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus (pictured above, center) wanted to make a dramatic political statement in the theater of naval power. Him-self a keen artillerist, the king commissioned the building of a series of larger warships with two full gundecks and outfitted with much heavier guns. The keel of the first warship, Vasa, was laid in Stockholm in 1626 and would take two years to finish.

The Vasa was to be a magnificent example of naval power as well as an extravagantly decorated vessel that would depict the ambitions of Sweden and King Adolphus. King Adolphus wanted it to be one of the most powerful warships in the world upon completion. In his eagerness to achieve greatness, the king or-dered changes to the weaponry of the ship after the keel was laid. He ordered 72 bronze 24-pounder can-nons to be cast in Stockholm for the ship. Additional-ly, the ship was decorated with sculptures intended to glorify the authority, wisdom and material prowess of the monarch and also to deride, taunt and intimidate the enemy.

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Editor’s Note: We continue where we left off last month when Don Woodard was serving in the US Navy aboard the USS Edisto.

Out of dry dock at last, the ship trav-elled to Antarctica with the mission to evacuate Ellsworth Station, a small research site that had been established on the ice pack just three years before, and had served its purpose. But not long after arriv-ing in Antarctica, the ship found itself stuck in the ice. It was discov-ered only then that the Heeling Sys-tem was inoperable. 3rd Class Petty Officer Woodard was given the re-sponsibility of getting the electric pumps in the system working so that the ship’s huge fuel supply could be shifted forward/aft or starboard/port quickly through the operation of gate valves, pumps and 24” pipes. By this means the ship could be made to actually rock back and forth in order to help it break free of the ice. Don went to work and had the system working in short order. He opined that his work with the heeling system was a factor in his promotion to Electricians Mate 2nd Class with less than two years of service, a rather remarkable achievement.

Once free of the ice, the ship was able to force its way through to Ells-worth Station where they got all the

people and equipment aboard and evacuated the base and headed to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Don (pictured below, right in Argentina circa 1959) recalls that the crew greatly enjoyed their brief stay in Buenos Aires, especially since the exchange rate was 73 pesos per dollar and an excellent Argentine beef steak dinner could be had for about $1.50. One of the major tasks aboard the ship here was to fill the bow with sand bags for weight and hull support to compen-sate for the reduced fuel load. I didn’t ask Don if his heeling system was capable of pumping sand bags to and fro.

They hadn’t been in Buenos Aires very long before the ship was directed to Montevi-deo, Uruguay, to per-form rescue support for the victims of a major flood that had occurred there.

The ship was well equipped for this kind of duty, having aboard two helicopters; a CH53 Sea Stallion (they called it a “horse”) and an OH 58, used for fast searching

and command and control. The Edisto then had to go out to sea to endure an approaching hurricane.

After a brief time ashore in Montevi-deo, the ship returned to Antarctica to rescue a Norwegian boat that

was trapped in the ice. The location of the boat was in an area for which they had no maps or charts, so they had to take soundings to check the water’s depth, a technique many thousands of years old, long before sonar, etc. They managed to reach the boat without going aground and made a path through the ice for it to reach its destination and unload needed supplies. The Edisto then returned to South America for a few days in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. The ship set out for the states and ar-rived at its home port in Boston in May of 1959.

Editor’s Note: This section picks up where we left off last month.

5. John Wilkes Booth’s brother saved the life of Lincoln’s son.

A few months before John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln, the president’s oldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln, stood on a train platform in Jersey City, New Jer-sey. A throng of passengers be-gan to press the young man back-wards, and he fell into the open space between the platform and a moving train. Suddenly, a hand reached out and pulled the presi-dent’s son to safety by the coat collar. Robert Todd Lincoln imme-diately recognized his rescuer: famous actor Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes. (In another eerie coincidence, on the day of Edwin Booth’s funeral, June 9, 1893, Ford’s Theatre collapsed, killing 22 people.)

6. Lincoln is the only president to have obtained a patent.

Benjamin Franklin isn’t the only American political leader who demonstrated an inventive mind. After being aboard a steamboat that ran aground on low shoals and had to unload its cargo, Lin-coln, who loved tinkering with machines, designed a method for keeping vessels afloat when trav-ersing shallow waters through the use of empty metal air chambers attached to their sides. For his design, Lincoln obtained Patent No. 6,469 in 1849.

7. Poisoned milk killed Lincoln’s mother.

When Abraham was 9 years old in 1818, his mother, Nancy, died of a mysterious “milk sickness” that swept across southern Indiana. It was later learned that the strange

disease was due to drinking tainted

milk from a cow that had ingest-ed poisonous

white snakeroot.

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serve squadron. The day was calm and the only wind was a light breeze from the southwest. In great antici-pation of seeing this magnificent ship, thousands of people lined up along the channel leading from the Port of Stockholm to the Baltic Sea. The captain of the Vasa had ordered the gun ports open so that she could fire a salute as the ship left the port. Shortly after getting under-way, a gust of wind filled her sails, and she heeled suddenly to port. The crew adjusted the sails as the ship slowly righted herself as the gust passed. A short while later, a strong gust of wind came through a gap in the bluffs at Tegelviken, and

The symbolism of the sculptures in the ship ranged from Roman and Greek antiquity; ancient Egypt; to frightening creatures such as sea monsters, mermaids, and grotesque wild men. Each side of the beak-head had 20 of these sculptures, to give you an idea of the extrava-gance. Many of the ornate features of the ship were added over the two year period it took to build the ship.

August 10, 1628, was to be a monu-mental day for the Swedish Navy. King Adolphus had ordered the ship to sail on her maiden voyage to the naval station at Alvsnabben to take her post as the flagship of the re-

forced the Vasa onto her port side pushing the lower gunports under-water. As water rushed into the lower deck, the ship could not right itself; with water pouring into the hold, the ship sank in the channel in 105 feet of water. Crewmen tried to swim to shore and some boats rushed to help the victims. Despite all efforts, 30 crewmen died as the ship sank. The catastrophe was viewed by thousands to include for-eign ambassadors. King Adolphus’ intentions of making a dramatic political statement backfired into a horrific embarrassment.

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Article by Don King

According to the North Carolina De-partment of Justice’s website, to possess a concealed handgun in North Carolina, you must:

Carry your permit and a valid form of identification with you at all times.

Disclose the fact that you have a valid concealed handgun permit when you are approached or ad-dressed by any law enforcement officer in North Carolina.

Inform the officer that you are in possession of a concealed hand-gun.

Present both the permit and valid identification at the request of an officer.

You should not attempt to display either your weapon or permit unless directed to by an officer.

Please see North Carolina Firearms Laws (visit ncdoj.gov and search on the phrase “North Carolina Firearms Laws”) for a list of “Do’s and Don’ts” for carrying a concealed handgun in North Caro-lina. This information is designed as a refer-ence guide only and should not be relied upon as legal advice.

Note from Colonel Martin: At our Yellow Ribbon luncheon last November, a suggestion was made for us to get together a

“conceal-to-carry” class for the Yel-low Ribbon Ministry. I’ve discussed this with Greg Young and he has agreed to conduct a class on Saturday, April 2, 2016. More details to follow about time, loca-

tion, and cost. You do not have to own or bring your own handgun to the training. I will work out the details with those who are inter-ested in participat-ing. Both the class and the firing range qualifica-

tion will be conducted on this same day. If you are

interested in this class, please contact Colonel Martin.

Baptists) but the congregation vot-ed to leave GARB and become an Independent Baptist Church. Follow-ing a men’s retreat of about 40 men from the church, they voted to take the Woodards on for support. They served at the camp for four years when Don was called of God to leave and go to Bible College. He fought it very hard for about three months before giving in to God’s leading. In June, before the next camp session began, they and their four children moved to South Caroli-na for Don to attend Bob Jones University. Don says he crammed six years into three and graduated in 1982 with a degree in Bible.

They then moved out west to serve as house parents to unwanted chil-dren at a ranch outside of Cody, Wyoming. Don did much counseling of the boys and taught shop during the school year. Sharon taught the girls typing and homemaking and monitored a study hall. The ranch ministry closed due to a shortage of funds, which resulted in the Woodard family moving back east. Don and Sharon (pictured at left) were later called to serve at the Durham Rescue Mission, where they have ministered for the last eighteen years. Eventually, through the guidance of the Lord, they found their way to Raleigh and Friendship Baptist Church.

We’re all very glad they did! (Thank you for your service, Don!!)

They became disillusioned with their local Methodist church when it was contemplating joining the United Council of Churches/United Method-ist Church. When the pastor was replaced with a rookie who decided to adopt “Good News for Modern Man”, a paperback, in place of the Bible and got rid of their hymn books because several of the songs contained “the blood” in them. Don and Sharon, along with their whole families, asked to be removed from the membership, left the church and shortly thereafter joined Calvary Baptist Church in Midland.

In 1972 Don was called of God to leave the family business and go into full-time ministry.

He was first led to a camp ministry (Camp Barakel) in northern Michi-gan where he worked as the camp

handyman, helped lead a Canadian wilderness camp, taught archery and marksmanship, and served as a camp counselor for the engineers. These were teen volun-teers, 12 to 18 years of age, who came for eight

weeks of hard work, doing various jobs around the camp.

Calvary Baptist Church was affiliated with GARB (General Assn of Regular

Don recalls that, as a non-commissioned officer, he was tasked with Shore Patrol duty for some of the time in Rio, and again in Norfolk. He related a couple of stories about having to deal, tactful-ly of course, with rowdy sailors on shore leave.

At this time, with just over three months remaining on his four year hitch, Don was transferred to a Ca-ble Layer Ship which was headed for the Caribbean to lay anti-submarine nets. This ship ran on steam propul-sion, so he had to learn all about that in a very short time. As it turned out, the sea was too rough to lay any cable, so the ship returned to its home base at New Hampshire and sat in port until Don’s time was up. In February of 1962 he retrieved his Corvette from Boston and head-ed back to Michigan to work for his dad at Woodard Electric.

Not long after return-ing home, he met Sharon at a church function (after hav-ing known of each other since they were 7 and 4 respec-tively) and invited her to go to a basket-ball game. She accept-ed and they dated off and on for a while. In 1962 Don bought a new Pontiac and a ring and proposed. They were married in April 1963.

8. Lincoln personally test-fired rifles outside the White House.

Lincoln was a hands-on com-mander-in-chief who, given his passion for gadgetry, was keenly interested in the artil-lery used by his Union troops during the Civil War. Lincoln attended artillery and cannon tests and met at the White House with inventors demon-strating military prototypes. Although there was a standing order against firing weapons in the District of Columbia, Lin-coln even test-fired muskets and repeating rifles on the grassy expanses around the White House, now known as the Ellipse and the National Mall

9. Lincoln came under enemy fire on a Civil War battlefield.

When Confederate troops at-tacked Washington, D.C., in July 1864, Lincoln visited the front lines at Fort Stevens on two days of the battle, which the Union ultimately won. At one point the gunfire came dangerously close to the presi-dent. Legend has it that Colo-nel Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., a future Supreme Court justice, barked, “Get down, you fool!” Lincoln ducked down from the fort’s parapet and left the bat-tlefield unharmed.

10. Lincoln never slept in the Lincoln Bedroom.

When he occupied the White House, the 16th president used the current Lincoln Bedroom as his personal office. It was there that he met with Cabinet members and signed docu-ments, including the Emanci-pation Proclamation.

5510 Falls of Neuse Road Raleigh, NC 27609

(919) 876-0585 fbcmail@fbcweb.net

www.fbcweb.net

(919) 571-4378 stevedebmartin@gmail.com

Jeanne Hayden - 2 Chris Harris - 3 Avery Stewart - 5 Natalia Carver - 15 Gene Mesley - 20 Todd Huskey - 23 Bill Blake - 29

NONE

Joe Perez (perez@usa.com)

Don King (dking010@nc.rr.com)

Please keep Albert Watkins in your prayers as he will be facing surgery on March 8th; please pray for great results from the sur-gery. Remember Dianna Perez, who on

that same day is facing outpatient knee surgery to repair a torn menis-cus. Please also pray for Ashley Huskey, that God will give doctors wisdom in how to further treat her. Ashley is the daughter of Todd and Tammy Huskey.

Please keep Lance Corporal Tim-othy Robinson in your prayers.

Timothy, Hope Kennon’s fiancé,

is serving in the Persian Gulf. Please pray for his safety and that he will be able to share his Christian witness with those with whom he is serving. Please remember to pray for Malia Barnhill who was recently diagnosed with cancer. I worked with her husband for a number of years and he is a close friend. Finally, pray also for Brian and Ivey Palmer as they minister to sol-diers and families at Ft. McCoy, Wisconsin. ~ Colonel Martin

Coming up next month:

Here’s Why: What are Challenge Coins?

VOLUME 8, ISSUE 3

sibilities and deadlines compound-ed one after another; the important things in life seemingly overcome by the minutia. I’ve honestly had times when I feel like I’m struggling just to keep my head above water. So often during these difficult times, I try to put on a lav-ish exterior so that others do not see my struggle or know the weight of my burden. Yet inside, I’m overburdened and my life is out of balance. I’m sink-ing! Does it sound familiar? I would ven-ture to guess that most Christians have been at this very place. In this situation, it is good to reflect on Hebrews 12: 1-2: “Wherefore seeing we also are com-passed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” The weight in our lives is that thing that slows us down and keeps us from moving forward. A good examina-

A full inquest was convened by the Swedish Privy Council and Admiral-ty in September 1628. Although contributing factors were identified, the blame for the event was given to master shipwright Henrik Hy-bertsson who designed the ship but died shortly after the keel was laid. In the end, no one was punished for the fiasco. Although numerous salvage efforts have taken place over the centuries, the ship was not completely salvaged until modern technology allowed the Vasa to be raised in 1961. Today the remains of the Vasa are housed in Vasa Mu-seum in Stockholm. Modern ship-builders have been able to analyze the remains of the Vasa and have determined that the bottom of the ship was too narrow to support the heavy weaponry and design addi-tions made to the ship. During the two years of construction, altera-tions were made to the design to accommodate the king’s wishes. In the end, the ship lost symmetry and was top-heavy. This dangerous combination caused the Vasa to sink on her maiden voyage after sailing only one mile.

Has your Christian life become asymmetric and weighed down? I’ve had times in my life where eve-rything was moving so fast; respon-

tion of our lives will help to identify the weight or weights that are hin-dering us. If it is sin we find, we need to confess it, ask for for-giveness, and turn from it.

However, some-times it may not be a sin that’s hinder-ing us, but things in our lives that have built up over time. Maybe it’s an un-healthy friendship, a bad habit, or our work ethic, a lack of discipline, a televi-sion show we watch, or music we listen

to. Maybe we’ve over-committed and are “weary in well-doing.”

In 1 Corinthians 10:23, Paul says: “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.” There may be things in our life that may not be a sin, yet they may be hindering us. Don’t let the cares of life weigh you down to the point you falter. Cull those things out of your life that are weighing you down and have you out of balance. Look unto Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of your faith!

10 Mar 1948 - USAF jet aircraft begin regular operations from a carri-er, VF-5A off the USS Boxer (CV-21). 13 Mar 1942 - Julia Flikke, of the Nurse Corps, becomes the first wom-an colonel in the US Army. 17 Mar 1913 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy, where he served from 1913 to 1921.

3 Mar 1801 - Following the end of the 'Quasi-War' with France, Con-gress reduces the Navy to 14 ships. 5 Mar 1821 - Veteran James Mon-roe is inaugurated as the 5th presi-dent, having postponing the ceremo-ny by one day to avoid the Sabbath. 6 Mar 1923 - Birth of Ed McMahon, Marine aviator, California Air Guards-man, TV personality

17 Mar 1966 - US Navy mini-sub locates a missing H-bomb in the Mediterranean off Palomares, Spain. 19 Mar 1898 - US Navy battleship USS Oregon (BB3) begins an epic 14,000 mile voyage from San Fran-cisco to Key West. 19 Mar 1734 - Birth of Thomas McKean, militia colonel and signer of the Declaration of Independence

model showing a cross section of Vasa's hull